K-Pop Club at Palo!

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K-Pop stars have come to Palo Verde.

The first meeting of K-Pop club took place on Friday, September 21 in Room 210. The club is for K-Pop fans to hang out, dance, and appreciate music together.

K-Pop, which stands for Korean Pop, is an international music and cultural phenomenon with devoted fans all over the world. Here at Palo, a group of K-Pop fans wanted to create a community for themselves.

“We all had a similar interest. It’s kind of hard to find other people that like the same music that’s in a different language because people don’t always understand why we would listen to it if we don’t understand the language. We decided if we made a club we could make a community of people that liked the same music,” said Emma Marrufo, the K-Pop club treasurer.

The club meets every Friday from 2:30-3:30 in room 210. As for what the club would actually do, the club president, Dionee Simmons, explained the plan.

“Mainly it’s just going to be a place to hang out and chill. We were planning on watching music videos and, if anyone was interested, K-Dramas (South Korean scripted television shows), and just in general enjoy yourselves, make some friends, and form a community,” she said.

In addition to bringing people together around K-Pop, the club wants to start a dance team to learn the notoriously intricate choreography of K-Pop.

“I’ve always been interested in the dance aspect of K-Pop in general because it requires lots of teamwork and physical ability. You really need to build that up in order to do choreography and it’s a lot of rhythm. It’s rhythm based and I was always interested in that. I wanted to do that myself, but since there wasn’t a group that I could do that with, I thought a club would be a first start to meet people who would be interested… I think the only thing you need in order to join the dance team would be some motivation to learn and practice and some sacrifices… You don’t have to be an expert to join, but you have to be willing to improve,” said Simmons.

The dance team will be a separate activity, but connected to the club. In addition to the K-Pop style of dance, the club has interest in traditional Korean styles.

After introducing the board with a quick presentation, the first club meeting transitioned into watching choreography for a couple songs and cookies, getting the gathering of about 35 people hyped up. Later on, the group took a survey to determine how involved the people were in K-Pop culture.

The club members had some pretty strong opinions on K-Pop and weren’t afraid to talk about some of the issues a community like this one faces.

“K-Pop is good. K-Pop should be represented more globally because one, BTS (K-Pop group) made impact! And two, people have this bias against it because ‘oh you don’t know what they’re saying; they’re just Asian ching-chong-whatever.’ First of all? That’s racist! Second of all, I think it’s just music, and everyone loves music. Everyone should show their appreciation towards music, especially if it’s in another language or another country. I just think the representation is beautiful and everyone should know more about K-Pop… Stan Loona,” said Zacari Sumbry, passionately explaining her love for K-Pop. ‘Stan Loona’ is a catchphrase for fans of the 12-member girl group Loona, popularized by Twitter Gays.

The club isn’t just for hardcore fans, Simmons promises.

“Just come in whenever, the door is always open. You don’t even have to know what the ‘K’ in K-Pop stands for in order to come into the club! Anyone is welcome to join, as long as you don’t come to discriminate or judge people. Just be open and welcoming to learn about something new,” states Simmons.